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Senators News: October 12th

–Chris Neil talks about what it’s like to play for Paul MacLean (link), “He’s a guy you want to play for. It’s been fun around here, he expects you to work hard and if you work hard he’s happy with you.” In the same potpourri Don Brennan article Stephane Da Costa says, “I think I’ve proven I can play at this level. Now I’ve got to prove I can do it consistently.”

–The Silver Seven‘s Mark Parisi wonders if fans should boo Sergei Gonchar (link) “when we consider that it’s in everyone’s best interests for his play to improve, and booing him in no way contributes to that improvement, we must also consider that when we jeer our own players in our own arena, we’re cutting off our nose to spite our face. From that point of view, it seems clear that when we boo Sergei Gonchar, we’re acting directly counter to our desires for him“; I agree with him that it’s not a great idea.

-Rob Brodie writes about to David Rundblad for the Sens website (link), who talked about what he learned while in the pressbox “You can see the whole rink. It’s a lot easier to watch every situation. These games are much faster compared to the games I played in the pre-season … everything is more intense and faster. So I’ve got to learn to play faster and move my feet more.”

-Joy Lindsay tweets (link) that Andre Petersson and David Dziurzynski are questionable for Friday’s game, while she believes Louie Caporusso, Max Gratchev, and Shaun Heshka will play this weekend.

-Both The Hockey News (link) and Sports Illustrated (link) have their NHL power rankings up (neither of which includes last night’s win), with the former listing Ottawa in the league’s basement (30th) and the latter putting Ottawa 27th (ahead of Winnipeg, Calgary, and Columbus).

–The Calgary Herald‘s Kristen Odland writes about Sens prospect Mark Stone (link), who talks about making Team Canada under Don Hay, “You hear what the coaches like, the type of players they like, the way they like to play. I’ve obviously heard a lot about him. Everybody’s got a lot of respect for him. He plays a hard game. And if you aren’t going to buy into his system, you probably aren’t going to be a good fit on his team. You learn stuff at the summer camp at the way he approaches the game and take it into your every day game.”

–The Record-Gazette‘s Jeff Blay writes about Sens prospect Darren Kramer (link), who was named captain of Spokane this season. He talks about his experience at Sens camp, “It was a great experience in Ottawa, but I’ve told a few people already that I couldn’t decide if it was a learning experience or a wake up call. You learn very quickly what it takes to play in the NHL, and it’s not easy, but it’s what I love to do and what I’ve worked for my entire life.” And, “The message was pretty clear when I was in camp in Ottawa that 47 fights was unacceptable. It’s what got me noticed and it was what I was willing to do to get to the next step, but now it’s time to develop my game.” The latter comment echoes my own thoughts since he was drafted (eg, link).

-The Elmira Jackals announced the release of five of their players (link), John Mori, J. P. Martignetti, Mike Sellitto, Corey Milan, and Larry Sterling. They also announced the signing of Donnie Harris to a contract (who was in camp on a tryout).